Cakes with a sweet veggie twist

I absolutely love cake. I love making it and, more importantly, love eating it. However, I know it’s not always the healthiest option, so I have come up with these delicious recipes that incorporate lovely winter vegetables for a healthier take on traditional bakes!

Ignore that beetroot does not usually go into a cake and give my chocolate fudgy orange beetroot cake a little go. The beetroot adds a wicked sweet and moist twist, which is really quite surprising in the best possible way. My yummy carrot cake and apple uses less oil than a traditional carrot cake but is still deliciously sweet and moist. Enjoy!

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REALLY TASTY CHOCOLATE FUDGY ORANGE BEETROOT CAKE Serves 10



100g unsalted butter, softened

150g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), snapped or chopped into small pieces

3 eggs

4 egg whites

Seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

150g soft light brown sugar

150g wholemeal flour

1½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground ginger

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

200g fresh beetroots (not beetroot in vinegar)

1 tbsp icing sugar, to finish

To start, cook your beetroot in one of two ways. Either boil them for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, or wrap in tin foil and roast at 180°C (Fan 160°C) for 1.5 to 2 hours until tender. Once cool, peel and roughly grate, and set aside.

Next, preheat the oven to 170°C, (Fan 150°C), 325°F, Gas Mark 3. Use the spray oil to grease an 18cm round, loose-bottomed, deep cake tin. Line the base with baking parchment and set on a baking sheet.

Melt the butter in a pan and once it has melted, remove from the heat, add the chocolate and set it aside to melt. Meanwhile, put the eggs, egg whites and vanilla seeds or extract into a large bowl and whisk them up until mousse-like and white. This can be done by using a whisk or a food mixer. Then, working in two batches, add the sugar, whipping it up well between each addition until stiff.

Once melted, stir the chocolate and butter together and pour it around the edge of the whisked eggs. Then, gently fold it in until well blended and the mixture turns dark brown. Really scoop up the chocolate, which will fall to the bottom of the bowl, to get it nicely folded in. Gently sprinkle the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and orange zest over and then gently fold this in well also. Finally, gently fold the beetroot in and carefully pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake in the oven for 40–45 minutes until firm on top and a knife comes out still a little sticky from the centre of the cake. I like to undercook this cake ever so slightly so that it stays nice and moist. It will still cook a little further in its own heat when out of the oven, so just trust me on this.

Once it has reached this stage, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Once the cake is cooled, sprinkle over the icing sugar and serve.

Pick up a copy of the The Sun On Sunday or subscribe to thesun.co.uk for all the cake recipes plus plenty more from Lorraine